Today I was talking with a cancer survivor who took a look at our site and asked: “I like the bracelets, but what is the connection to you? Why do you have the cancer awareness line?”

I found the question really interesting because I don’t think I ever explained how my line has grown and grown over the years and where it got its roots. A lot of times in our lives we are faced with adversity and feel like we need to do something. At the time I started my business, my mother had just gotten a clean bill of health as a breast cancer survivor for 1 year. I made my first bracelet, a breast cancer awareness bracelet, in her honor out of rose quartz and donated a portion of the proceeds to the fight against cancer and cancer research. After another friend saw my breast cancer awareness bracelet, she asked if I could make her a cancer awareness bracelet that represented some of the more known cancers with silver beads and crystal as she knew so many people affected with all kinds of cancers. That was the first bracelet made with Swarovski crystal and sterling silver that was on our site. The awareness line continued to grow slowly over the years as people requested different types of cancer awareness bracelets. After I made their requested cancer awareness bracelet, I added it to the line as I was certain others would be interested in it as well. Each one of these bracelets was made for a reason and has a story behind it and selling this line of bracelets has allowed me the pleasure to met many people whose lives have been touched with cancer and their stories.

As in the start of this line with a single bracelet, we still donate $5 of every bracelet sold to the fight against cancer and will continue to do so so we can raise cancer awareness…BEAD BY BEAD!

We are pleased to say we are making progress towards our goal of raising $2K to donate towards the fight against cancer and cancer research. To date for 2008, we have raised about 27% towards our goal for the 2008 year and we are excited to continue to raise more funds. Cancer awareness is near and dear to our hearts as we have had family and close friends affected by cancer either directly by fighting the battle themselves or indirectly by supporting another fight the battle. Some have declared victory over the disease however others have lost thier battle and we want to do our part to help raise funds to one day find the cure so no one needs to lose any more battles.

Please visit our awareness line of jewelry to help us reach our goal. We have a variety of cancer awareness bracelets and we will custom make a bracelet for you if the type of cancer awareness you are looking for is not currently listed. Or take a look at our cancer awareness bracelet that has a bead to represent each of the types of cancer awareness we have listed on our site.

Please remember that $5 of each bracelet sold, which is 20% of the total price, is getting donated towards the fight against cancer and cancer research. Please help us raise cancer awareness bead by bead!

We decided that since we were successful this year in meeting our goal of raising $1000 towards the fight against cancer and cancer research, we would challenge ourselves again by setting an even higher goal. For 2008, Vael Designs will try to raise $2000 for Cancer Awareness by continuing to donate $5 of each cancer awareness bracelet sold to charitable organizations for cancer research.

Vael Designs has also started a new line of awareness bracelets that will be near and dear to my heart. As some of you may or may not know, my husband is being deployed to Iraq for all of 2008. I want to do something to help him and his fellow soldiers who are away from their loved ones to continue to be able to speak with their families. I have created several “support the troops” bracelets and will be taking $5 of each bracelet sold and donating it to the Cell Phones for Soldiers project which is very near and dear to my husband’s heart. The Cell Phones for Soldiers is a program that collects used cell phones and sends them in to a company called Recelluar who pays the organization enough money per cell phone to purchase 1 hour of call time on a calling card for a soldier to call home.

Please help us reach our 2008 goal by visiting our awareness lines located here:

Support Our Troops
Raising Cancer Awareness Bead by Bead

Thank you!

We are pleased to announce that we met our goal for 2007 for raising $1000 for the fight against cancer and cancer research. To celebrate reaching our goal, we are offering a 20% coupon code off your entire order through New Years Day. Just use coupon code GOALMET2007 during checkout to get 20% off your order!

Check back here soon as we announce our goals for 2008 and help us ring in the new year!

We are so excited that it looks like we will meet our goal of raising $1000 towards Cancer Research. To date, we are 82% towards our goal and delighted that we are able to make such a difference and help raises these kinds of funds for such needed research.

We decided that once we hit our goal of $1000, we will have a site wide sale – so stay tuned as hitting this goal is certainly worth a celebration!

If you are interested in what jewelry we donate $5 towards cancer research and the fight against cancer, check out our beaded cancer awareness bracelets. Each bracelet that we sell, Vael Designs donates $5 of the profits towards cancer research and the fight against cancer.

Remember that November is Lung Cancer Awareness month, and we have recently added a Lung Cancer Awareness bracelet to our line to support awareness of lung cancer.

Many people already know that October is breast cancer awareness month and the color of the awareness ribbon is pink. But what does this really mean besides showing our support and prominently displaying our pink awareness ribbons?

Breast Cancer Awareness is more than just showing your support, its about taking some time to learn about breast cancer and the signs and symptoms that all women need to be aware of and look for on a regular basis, not just the one time of year we raise awareness. Early detection can save your life! Breast self-examinations should be a regular part of your routine to ensure you have no lumps or changes within your breasts. To find our more on how to perform a breast self-examination, please follow the link here.

Also starting at the age of 40, all women should get a yearly mammogram to screen for any areas that may not be detected by a physical exam. From a personal standpoint, this screening test saved my mother’s life when a mammogram detected a small dark area which lead to a biopsy that showed she had breast cancer. Because of early detection, she was able catch the cancer at the very early stage and she successfully won her battle and is now a breast cancer survivor.

Breast Cancer Awareness Bracelet

Join me in spreading the word about the importance of breast cancer awareness and early detection/screening. Wear your breast cancer awareness bracelets with pride and share with a friend what breast cancer awareness means…it could save their lives.

We are pleased to announce that we are half way to our goal in raising 1K towards the fight against cancer! Some of you may or may not be aware, but September is an awareness month for several types of cancer. Throughout the world, September is Leukemia and Lymphoma Awareness month. If you are interested in showing your support for these types of cancer, we offer both a Lymphoma Awareness Bracelet as well as we just added a Leukemia Awareness Bracelet today.

Lymphoma Awareness Bracelet

Leukemia Awareness Bracelet

September is also Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. We want to stress the importance of women getting their regular check ups and screenings for cervical cancer as it could save your life. We have several bracelets that represent these types of cancer awareness:

Cervical Cancer Awareness Bracelet	Ovarian Cancer Awareness Bracelet	Uterine Cancer Awareness Bracelet
	Women’s Cancer Awareness Bracelet

Vael Designs has been working hard to raise funds for cancer awareness through selling our awareness line of jewelry. We have expanded our line quite a bit to include various different types of cancer awareness bracelets and to help raise awareness. For the end of the 1st half of the year, we are excited to announce that we are almost halfway to our goal! To date, we have raised $400 dollars towards the fight against cancer.

We are looking forward to meeting our goal by year end and are excited to see if we can raise the bar for next year!

We have added a cancer awareness bracelet for a very rare cancer called Leiomyosarcoma (LMS). It is a little known cancer that is found in smooth muscle and currently there is no cure. I was touched by the story of Princess Leora (Leora’s Legacy) and I decided that I wanted to help in anyway that I could to help raise funds to support LMS research. I created the LMS Awareness bracelet out of Swarovski Crystal in emerald and amethyst and used sterling silver beads and a sterling silver awareness charm. We are donating $5 of every bracelet sold to the National Leiomyosarcoma Foundation which uses the money to help support LMS research.

We are pleased to announce that for the first quarter this year, we have been able to raise $120 dollars that has been donated to the fight against cancer and to support cancer research efforts through the sale of our various cancer awareness bracelets. Over the past few weeks, we have been adding more awareness bracelets to our line to help spread the word about more specific cancers.

One of the newest bracelets added to our line is the Leiomyosarcoma Cancer Awareness Bracelet. This bracelet was created to bring awareness to a rare cancer, Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) and to help raise funds for research for this rare cancer. The portion of the proceeds raised for this bracelet will be donated to a foundation that will help with Leiomyosarcoma research. You can find out more about LMS at the My Shining Light website.